Harley Quinn #31 – Tini Howard, Heather Anne Campbell, Writers; Sweeney Boo, Filya Bratukhin, Artists; Lee Loughridge, Backup Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This continues to be one of the most bizarre and amusing books on the stands, as Harley Quinn finds herself ping-ponging between a new status quo where she’s doing community service as a college professor and trying to fend off a revenge-crazed Two-Face, and criss-crossing the multiverse to undo the chaos she caused on the order of Lady Quark. That has brought her to the world of Captain Carrot, where her meddling accidentally caused the death of the Zoo Crew. Captain Carrot is revenge-crazed at first, pummeling Harley—before he realizes that cartoon characters always bounce back and he and Harley are able to make peace. It’s exactly the right kind of absurd for this book.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Ivy is trying to piece together exactly what is going on with Harley—with Harley’s hyenas in the background, secretly commenting on everything. I feel like we’ve maybe seen a little too much of Harley and Ivy keeping secrets from each other, but this is a lighter take on the whole thing. It’s entertaining to see just how many ways the various complications of Harley’s life can screw things up for her, including Two-Face crashing her teaching job and her little gift from Captain Carrot coming into play at the worst possible time. This series is maybe trying to do a little too much, but even if it comes off as overly chaotic, it’s a good time every issue.
The backup shifts things dramatically, with a strange dream of Harley’s taking place in the far future in a mech-driven world involving Harley, Ivy, and Joker in giant skyscraper-style robots. The art style is the biggest standout, with the art here being so detailed that it reminds me of the work of the late genius Moebius. The story is a little short, but it has a clever twist ending and the whole thing is just a unique spectacle that emphasizes why these experimental backups are such a clever idea.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
